Chapter Twenty-Two
I had let Ekaterina out of my sight for no more than three or four fucking minutes, and she was already flirting with another man.
I shouldn’t have been so pissed off, seeing as I could hardly stand to be around her myself, only I knew that was quickly proving to be a lie, which only infuriated me more.
And it wasn’t just that she was talking to the dope, but that she was actually smiling.
It reached her eyes and was not just for show.
She was actually happy to see whoever this was, and I now began to wonder why.
He looked American, so I doubted it was someone from Russia that she’d once known.
If she’d met him here, it meant that he had been a client of hers at one time.
I could already see her on the arm of the redheaded male as she smiled sweetly up at him.
Jealousy wasn’t something I was used to being on the receiving end of, and that small fact bothered me more than it should have.
Wanting to break up whatever reunion she was having, I arrived in time for her to show him her wedding ring. I took that as my chance to cut in, almost like someone would a dance on the dancefloor, earning her ire as she glared up at me.
“My wife and I require a few minutes of privacy,” I said to the guy who looked at Ekaterina, which intensified my anger.
She was silent for a few seconds, but then smiled politely at him. “If you don’t mind giving us a few minutes,” she finally told him.
“Are you sure?” he asked her as he looked between the two of us.
I didn’t know which part of get lost he didn’t understand. “You heard the woman,” I said to him as I held my wife against me more possessively.
“It’s okay, Caleb. My husband and I need to have a talk.”
“If you’re sure?—”
I released her and was about to grab this twerp, but she stepped in front of me. “I am. It was lovely to see you again.”
“The pleasure is always mine,” he said to her, and she softly nudged me in the chest with her elbow at the sound of my low growl.
Caleb walked away, and he had taken no more than four or five steps when she whirled around on me. "What the fuck was that?" she seethed.
Venom flashed in those cold eyes of hers.
I could so easily fill those glacial depths with flames, but I didn’t trust myself enough to even entertain touching her right now.
I still harbored my normal resentful hate toward her, and it was taking everything inside of me not to fuck her right here in the ballroom for everyone to see in an attempt to both mark and break her.
Call it the need to keep up pretenses, or maybe some unfounded twinge or two of jealousy, but it was strong and intense, and so unlike me where she was concerned.
Her eyes continued to peer into mine, and the one thing I had always respected about Ekaterina was that she seemed fearless and backed down to no one. Until now.
I did frighten her, which was what made her agree to help me fulfill my grandfather’s asinine demands to begin with, but her defiance was growing stronger with every passing day. Cillian had just pointed out something that seemed so far-fetched in the moment, but now I couldn’t be so sure.
“You can’t trust her, King. You saw what she did to Prince and got away with it. You need to be careful,” Cillian had warned.
I’d brushed him off, but as she finally rolled her eyes and went to pull away, my hand darted out in front of me.
I had my hand wrapped around her throat before I even realized what I was doing.
Her eyes widened as I held her by her throat, even though I wasn’t even squeezing her neck.
I could, but again, I couldn’t trust myself not to strangle her if I did.
“We know what this marriage between us is, but no one else is to know. What the hell did you think you were doing, flirting with that guy at a party being thrown for my cousin, especially one with a number of my family’s associates in attendance?”
She smacked at my hand, and when I dropped it, she gave me a ‘go to Hell’ look, but little did she know that marriage to her was one. “I didn’t go looking for him. He found me,” she pointed out.
This outburst of mine still had me shaken, and while it was likely completely innocent, I couldn’t be so sure. Ekaterina wasn’t one who could be trusted. The last Brannington to have done so had been left as roadkill on the side of a driveway.
Memories of rushing back to the city to sit by Prince’s bedside filled my head, causing the heart in my chest to constrict.
He, Cillian, and I had all vowed to run this organization together one day, but the woman in front of me had ruined it all.
The worst part was that after she’d left our lives in shambles, there had been no charges filed against her, which had been bad enough, but she hadn’t been able to let my slain brother rest in peace even then.
She’d smeared his name with lies, and it would now be forever synonymous with sexual assault.
It’d been a long road trying to bring honor back to the Brannington name, and just when nearly successful, she was back to wreak havoc in my life and undo everything I had basically done myself because Cillian had been a mess the last several years.
She was trying to ruin us again, and it now made even more sense as to why she’d agreed to this marriage so quickly.
Yes, she’d been scared about Aram, but she was resourceful and dangerous enough to get out of any arrangements with him.
“I think coming here to this party with you was a mistake after all,” I retorted.
“Finally, something we both can agree on.” And that was the thing. I hated to agree with her about anything. “Since you did make me get dressed up, I would like to stay and mingle. You can send Nolan to fetch me in a few hours.”
I stared incredulously at her. Ekaterina was testing the very limits of my patience. “You want to stay for him, don’t you?”
That venomous smirk spread across her face as she didn’t even try to hide her amusement.
She was very adept at pissing me off, and I suspected that this little performance was nothing more than her doing so again.
Still, the very thought of her canoodling with that Caleb for all to see had me seeing red.
“The only place I’m going is upstairs to the room I’d reserved for us,” I said to her.
“Then I’ll see you later,” she said as she turned and started to walk away.
I reached back out and yanked her toward me. She was now back to chest against me, and I heard her slight intake of breath as my hand moved back to her throat. If I was smart, I would just end her life already as I’d promised Princeton, and rid myself of her once and for all.
“You’re coming with me,” I said before releasing her.
I quickly grabbed her hand and dragged her back through the partygoers to the glass elevators, which would lead up to the top floor where our room was located. It had been a last minute decision to book it, and I was now thankful that I had.
Ekaterina kept up with me for the most part, and to the casual observer, we were two newlyweds rushing to our room. It wouldn’t cause the kind of headlines I needed to avoid, so I kept with my initial mission. Once we were in the glass elevator, I released her hand from mine.
“You’re not mad at me despite what you think,” she said as I was about to hit the floor key.
I looked over my shoulder at her. “What the hell are you talking about?’
“You were jealous, and?—”
“Jealous of someone touching you? I’m sure half that fucking party has had their dirty hands on you.”
Something flared in her eyes, but she wiped it away while continuing to grin at me.
“What if I told you that I had come for Caleb multiple times, screaming his name as he fucked me?” I felt vindicated in that moment, and after hitting the key, the elevator slowly started to ascend.
“And he might’ve fucked me better than you ever could. ”
My hand balled into a fist, and I slammed it against the key panel, causing the elevator to come to a complete stop midway up.
It was still in the ballroom, and I knew others down on the floor would be able to see us, but I didn’t care.
The red hot anger I had rushing through my veins was now a white hot desire I was unable to control.
“I’m s-sorry,” she stammered. “I was lying. I’ve never done anything with Caleb.”
I advanced on her, and she took the few steps she was able to take before her back hit the cold glass of the elevator wall.
The fear I sometimes witnessed was now very prevalent in her eyes and on her terrified expression.
Seeing her so afraid of me was better than any aphrodisiac, and my cock hardened painfully the longer I looked at her.
“Shut up,” I said to her.
“Are you going to hurt me?” she asked me softly, especially when I reached out and brushed one hand down her bare arm.
“Only if you beg nicely,” I responded.
“Kin—”
“I said to shut up !” I said, emphasizing my command, before spinning her around.
She was now facing the crowd, and I knew the moment she saw the partygoers down below. Her body was now tense, and as I leaned in and nuzzled her neck, one of my hands moved to her dress, and within seconds, I had one side of it hiked up to her waist.
“So you want to be fucked hard tonight, and you have doubts about whether I am up for the task or not?” I asked her as I slipped one finger between her silk panties and warm flesh.
“I should show Caleb, and any other male down there, that no one will ever make you come the way that I make you come.”
“You don’t have to do this,” she whispered. “I’m sorry about using Caleb to goad you.”
“And now you’re about to pay the consequences for that, puisín.”
“Please,” she cried out the moment I tore her panties from her. They were damp because, despite her protests, this little game between us turned her on as much as it obviously did me.
“You’re so wet,” I said to her as I slipped two fingers inside of her. “Despite what that vindictive tongue of yours says, you want me to fuck you here for everyone to see. Am I wrong?”
“Noooo,” she cried out again. “Yessss,” she added, then I felt her surrender as her body sagged against me. “I didn’t mean any of what I said downstairs. I promise.”
“Anyone could’ve walked up on us and heard that my new wife doesn’t think her husband can satisfy her sexual needs. We both know that’s a lie because only I can bring you pleasure. If anyone else so dared as much as to try, I’d end their goddamned life.”
“Kingston,” she murmured as I added a third finger inside of her.
“Tell me I’m right. That only I can make you climax,” I demanded.
“Only you,” she sobbed.
“Only I can what, puisín?”
“Only you can make me come, and I need you to do so right now.”
“Hands in front of you, and don’t you fucking move them,” I instructed.
As soon as she did, I removed my hand from between her legs, then raised the one leg up with one hand, while using the other to unzip my pants.
As soon as I had my cock out, I dipped down, then lined it up with her dripping pussy.
In one thrust, I filled her completely, causing her to cry out.
You feel so fucking good! And I am such a damn fool!
I’d let her bait me, but still I couldn’t pull out of her now, even if I tried.
Driven by a passion I loathed and an anger that fueled me, I began to fuck her hard.
She was smushed against the glass, and I held nothing back as I drove into her over and over again.
Ekaterina took everything I gave her, and her body begged for more as she pushed her ass out with each thrust.
“Fucking you is so damn good, puisín,” I rasped as her pussy clamped down so tightly around me.
She was about to come, and it would not be a moment too soon, as I also felt the desperate need to fill her with my cum.
And not even for the partygoers, but for me and for her.
I needed to show her that I could and would back up my words.
My grandfather might have forced me to marry and bear a child, but no wife I took would ever be anyone’s whore but mine.
“Kingston,” she finally cried out as she readied herself to climax. “I’m about to come.”
A feral smirk tipped my own lips as I powered into her even harder and faster until her entire body went taut before she began to shake from the intensity of it. My own was right there, and reaching for it, I let out a loud growl as I came inside of her, too.